Not beta'd. Additional notes at end.
I do not own Glee or profit from this in any way.
It was a bright and sunny day in Los Angeles. Not too hot, not too windy, but just right. There was no smog and for that, Mercedes Jones was grateful. That meant that the pictures she snapped would be flawless. After a rough breakup and a very nicely worded rejection to her dream college, Mercedes decided that she would take some time to fully appreciate the city she called home for the past 17 years of her life.
She signed up on a website that had activities and groups with all different interests that met up all over the city. A full on ten mile nature hike through the Santa Monica Mountains? Not her cup of tea. A 3 mile hike with lots of points for picture taking? Of course.
So there she was, sitting in her car waiting for the guide to arrive. She saw others milling around, obviously waiting for the same thing. Everyone had new high tech cameras, and it made her feel a little intimidated because of her own ancient Polaroid. She got out when the guide waved her hands around. She looked young, maybe only a couple of years older than Mercedes.
After her little speech on safety and sticking together, she took a moment to let everyone introduce themselves and state a fact about themselves. There were a couple tourists from Germany who thought it would be a fun way to see the rural side to Los Angeles. A family on vacation from Tennessee, and other locals who just wanted to try something new. A few people even complimented her on the camera around her neck.
They did a few stretches, much to the amusement of the German tourists who were already stretched and ready to go. The guide, Tina, set an easy walking pace and encouraged talking amongst the group. They walked for a few minutes until they came across a deer close enough to snap pictures of before it scurried away.
Mercedes was enjoying herself, feeling great about being outdoors, breathing in the air and feeling alive. She had a feeling like someone was watching her, but she was always too busy taking pictures of random things to dwell on the feeling. After setting a particularly nice photo of a butterfly in her bag, she turned around to see that the group was already moving on. One person did wait for her though, and he looked at her expectantly.
"Did you get a good picture?" he asked. She was startled a bit at how deep his voice was. It had a country twang to it that Mercedes found attractive. She had to stop herself from visibly looking at his defined arms and answer his question. After clearing her throat, she replied with a weak "Yes, thank you."
They walked in silence for a bit and caught up to the group. She vaguely remembered his introduction earlier and tried to remember his name. Saul? Sander? Sandy? "Sam!" she exclaimed.
The whole group turned around to look at the embarrassed teen. She glanced up at Sam and saw that he was grinning. "Sorry, I was just happy I remembered his name..." Most of the group shrugged and continued to walk the trail. She didn't want to get stuck behind again, or alone with him, so she walked a little faster to walk ahead with Tina, but once again she was slow to take the picture at their next stop. He waited for her again.
"Thanks," he said, looking down at her.
"For what?" she asked, confused. She had no idea what he was on about. Her eyes were glued to the trail they were talking.
"Thanks for that. I mean, I've never made a girl scream my name without doing anything before."
Her cheeks flushed a deep red and she was glad that she had a dark complexion. She couldn't even look him in the eye, she was so embarrassed. She didn't know how to react, so instead of responding, she just walked away. She thought it was a funny joke, sure, with people you were familiar with, but not for someone you just met. She had only walked a few steps when he tugged her arm gently. She met his gaze and saw him frown.
"I'm sorry, that was dumb and probably mean. I just didn't know how to start talking to you so I asked a friend of mine and he said I should say that." He held up the message on his phone in an apologetic manner, his face flushed.
She didn't know why, but she decided to forgive him. On one condition.
"What's that?"
"Never take advice from your friend ever again," she laughed.
"Promise. Scout's honor." He held up his hand and they both laughed at the corny gesture.
They walked along with the crowd, but stayed toward the back. She learned that he was from Tennessee and that him and his family were on vacation for Spring Break. He was also a senior in high school. She felt relaxed with him, talking about her life and his and different things they had in common.
"Any college plans?" he asked. She frowned and told him the truth. "I was rejected from my dream school, Stanford. I'll be going to Berkeley in the fall. What about you?"
He stayed quiet and looked into her eyes. She felt embarrassed all over again. "Is there something on my face"
His face went from slack to a full on grin. They began to walk again. "Nope, nothing. It's just caught me off guard to hear that we'll be attending the same school in the fall."
She stopped again. "You're going to Berkeley too?!" she asked. This had to be some crazy coincidence. Same music tastes, same favorite movies, same love of photography and now the same college?
"Yup! Guess you'll see more of me," he said.
"That doesn't sound too bad, Cowboy," she grinned. It really didn't. Seeing more of him? Nothing about that sounded bad.
"Whatever, City Girl," he teased. They both giggled and had to jog a bit to catch up to the group.
They finished the hike and Tina offered to take pictures of the whole group and insisted that Sam and Mercedes take one together. They posed for one, but Tina ended up snapping a handful on each of their cameras.
They were back at their cars and saw that his family was giving them a few minutes before they headed off. "Why did you text your friend for that horrible line?" she asked.
His cheeks flushed red again. After a few stutters, he said "I wanted to talk to you once I saw you sitting in your car, looking out at all of us. I thought you were insanely gorgeous."
It was her turn to blush, and she did so unwillingly. "That's probably the nicest thing someone has ever said to me," she admitted.
"It's true, though. Look, Mercedes. I'm in town for a few more days. Maybe we could meet somewhere and grab a bite to eat or something?"
She was taken back at his boldness but understood when she saw his father waving over to him. Mercedes grabbed her phone and handed it over to him so he could enter his number. "Of course we can," she smiled. He handed her his phone and soon they both had sent the obligatory 'It's Me' message.
She smiled at him and he waited until she was in her car to walk toward his family. She started her car and was about to head home when she received a text.
BTW, I'm keeping the polaroid of us. ;)
I wrote this while s3 was airing, so I'm sorry it's not canon UCLA Student!Mercedes. In my head they have that lunch and eventually get together during their second year at Berkeley. Mercedes becomes a super awesome historian and activist while Sam goes on to work at JPL doing space stuff. Sam tries to propose at the spot where they first met but their dog, Sully, starts chasing a deer and steps in some thorns and totally ruins Sam's speech but Mercedes says "Yes!" anyway and they can't stop smiling all the way to the vet to get Sully checked out. They live a fantastic life. Anywho, hope you enjoy the fluff! Much love, XX.